The Land Unspoken

Lightning split the sky.

It was more than a full day after the raid and the rain had hit hard. A thunderstorm raged overhead, the midday sky was as black as night and the wind played an eerie melody through the bars of the cage. Fluttershy cowered under a threadbare blanket, shivering in frozen fear. She was cold and alone, and no longer even had the energy to scream.

Hearing the knock on the door, she had approached it, only to find three of the grey ponies outside. Some instinct had her throw herself aside, but she hadn't been quick enough to escape the tranquiliser dart. She had awoken in a cage with the driving rain her only company.

Her earlier screams had proved fruitless and now she sat in terrified silence, huddled under the blanket like a frightened filly. The rain hid the tears on her face but her fear was obvious, and this hadn’t escaped the attention of her captors. One in particular, a small foal riding on the cart with her, had spotted her fear early on.

“Hey,” he called. His voice was nasal, high pitched and mocking. “What’s your name?”

Fluttershy curled herself into a ball and tried to ignore the voice. A sharp jab in her side shocked her and she couldn’t suppress a whimper at the sudden pain. She rose, turning awkwardly in the confines of the cage, and glared down at the foal who backed hurriedly away. He clearly hadn’t expected her to react so quickly, and for a moment, fear had flickered in his features. But the mocking look returned to his face as he slipped back through the bars of the cage. His tiny body was easily small enough to fit through the bars.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he whined. “That wasn’t very polite.”

Fluttershy pulled herself together as she led down again. Perhaps he was just trying to be friendly. “My name’s Fluttershy,” she replied calmly, “what’s yours?”

“Fluttershy? That’s a stupid name. Why’d your parents think that was a good idea? Were they stupid too?”

The insults came all in a rush, and Fluttershy gasped. “I-I never really knew my parents” she replied quietly. It was not a subject she was comfortable speaking about, least of all to this foal.

“So they abandoned you? Maybe they weren’t so stupid after all. How’d something as stupid as you survive anyway?”

He seemed to have an obsession with the word, and Fluttershy turned her head away again to hide her tears. The words were sharp, and all the more cutting for their truth. Desperately she sought to steer the conversation away from her.

“You didn’t answer my question either,” she replied. “What’s your name? And what about your parents? A foal like you shouldn’t be out without protection on a night like this.”

He paused. “I’m Ditto,” he said proudly “and my father sent these guards to protect me. He’s the one who captured you!” at this he rocked backwards, putting all his weight on his hind legs, and moved one foreleg in a wide arc. The rain obscured everything more than a few meters from the cage, but Fluttershy could see shaped moving in the downpour, other ponies escorting the cart. Suddenly her gaze was caught to the foal, and she gasped as she spotted something. He was pointing with his right foreleg, but all his weight was on his hind legs. This was because his left foreleg was twisted and crippled, held awkwardly in the air, very much a dead weight. When he dropped back down to what, for another pony, would be called all-fours he stood awkwardly, avoiding placing any weight on the injured limb. Then he saw her looking and snarled. Fluttershy jumped.

“What?” quick as lightning the mocking tone vanished, to be replaced by one of anger. Fluttershy’s brief candle of sympathy winked out as her fear returned, now helped along by a torrent of insults and jeering from Ditto. Fluttershy in possession of her wits would be sympathetic and try to help, but the Fluttershy cowering in the cage merely huddled down and cried through the night.

The first few days of pursuit passed relatively easily. By the end of the second day, however, the magic of the endeavour was fast wearing off. The constant rain was depressing, and even Pinkie Pie’s constant bouncing and cheer were somewhat dampened. Also, Twilight could sense some unrest amongst their party. They were so used to travelling with Fluttershy that often one would turn and ask a question directed at the missing pegasus, only to find nothing but silence for an answer. The constant reminder of their loss further damped their spirits and made any conversation brief at best.

On top of this, Derpy was clearly uncomfortable around them. The pegasus had barely spoken since they left PonyVille, answering only when spoken to and keeping her distance from the others, almost as if she wasn’t a part of the group. And, Twilight realised, it felt as if she shouldn’t be. Fluttershy had always been there for them, quiet yet always ready with a kind word. Now Derpy filled the gap. The grey pegasus was kind in her own way, yet too quiet, and in contrast to Fluttershy’s quiet contentment Derpy seemed nervous, as if she knew she wasn’t truly one of them.

Twilight had dropped back to watch her as they walked. Despite the concern she felt for the pegasus she couldn’t find any words of comfort, and any effort to do so lead very quickly to an awkward silence. Before she could convince herself to try again, however, Pinkie Pie broke the silence.

“Hey, Twilight, I’ve been thinking-”

“Take cover” muttered Rarity. Pinkie ignored her.

“-you can teleport, right? Can’t you just poof over to Fluttershy now?”

“I can’t just ‘poof’ over, no,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “Teleportation requires a firm image of where I wish to go, usually meaning a line of sight. I have no idea where Fluttershy is now, so I can’t teleport to her.”

“So you could do short distances then? Hop between treetops?”

“No, Pinkie, I couldn’t do that either. Magic requires energy to cast and I’d wear myself out before I got halfway there. Anyway, I’d have to leave you lot behind which I won’t do; we’re in this as a team remember?” she shot a look at Derpy but the pegasus didn’t seem to have heard. “I don’t know what we’re up against so if we have to confront it, we do so together. Hello, Rainbow.”

The pegasus landed with a splash into the mud. “Hey guys, good news!” she began. “I’ve found a clearing about half a mile ahead! It’s sheltered by trees so we should be safe until this weather clears. And” here she glanced over at Rarity, who was drenched and had a face arguably angrier than the thunderclouds above. “Some of us can, uhh, neaten up a bit.”

Rarity bristled. “Rainbow, you look horrible” she sniffed. “I thought you could control the weather? Can’t you stop this awful rain?”

I was only the fifth or sixth time she’d asked that today, and Rainbow Dash tiredly repeated her answer. “We’re too far out,” she replied. “This isn’t my territory anymore. And anyway,” she added, “the clouds aren’t listening.”

“Clouds ain’t listenin’?” Applejack said. “What’re you blabberin’ about? Can’t you just push ‘em out of our way?”

Rainbow Dash gave her a haughty look. “I wouldn’t expect an earth pony to understand about weather,” she replied. “Let’s just say I can’t change this rain and leave it at that.” Applejack shot her a sour look but remained silent

They arrived at the clearing shortly after and gratefully slumped down beneath the trees, finally out of the depressing rain. Twilight hastily began searching through hers and Derpy’s bags.

“I’m sure I’ve read something about this somewhere” she began, her voice muffled by a saddlebag, “something about… Ah-hah!” She emerged and brandished a book dramatically. Unfortunately her only audience was Pinkie Pie, as Rainbow Dash and Applejack had gone to get firewood, Rarity was focusing all her attention on the mess the rain had made of her mane, and Derpy was already asleep. Twilight rather sheepishly opened the book with magic and began to flick through the pages, her eyes searching for something, anything, relevant. Just as Rainbow Dash and Applejack returned with wood, she let out a cry and they all rushed over to see.

“Xerox” she began, reading aloud “A rouge unicorn who was exiled after a string of incidents leading to him casting an illegal spell to on a number of other ponies. The spell leaches colour from its victim’s skin, mane and tail, and causes them to fall utterly under the control of the caster. Xerox is believed to possess extremely powerful magic, but nopony has seen him in many years. Look!” here she indicated a picture drawn near the bottom of the page. The picture depicted a large unicorn with several of the grey ponies standing beside him. They were all a dark, gunmetal grey with grey manes except for the larger unicorn whose mane was blood red. “These are the ponies who attacked PonyVille and took Fluttershy!”

“Replicus?” Pinkie Pie read the caption of the picture, “what does that mean?”

“It’s the name of those ponies under his control. His ‘army’ I suppose it could be called” Twilight replied, rummaging in her saddlebags. After a moment she flourished some paper and a quill pen. “Since Spike isn’t here I’ll have to send the letter myself. Rainbow Dash, can you fly it back to Canterlot for me?”

“At the speed you guys travel?” replied the pegasus with a smirk. “Shall I do it twenty times?” She had frequently returned from scouting throughout the day to hurry the others along.

“Just once will be fine” replied Twilight, ignoring the snide remark. Dash joined the others in moving away, leaving Twilight to write the letter in peace and quiet. But just as she raised the quill, she was interrupted.

“Twilight?” Twilight’s earlier exclamation had woken Derpy. The pegasus had been listening from afar and now walked over, hanging her head shyly. “I could write the letter for you?” This was the first time she had spoken except when asked a direct question since they had begun the journey.

Twilight hesitated. Much as she protested Derpy’s equality to the others, she didn’t think the grey pony’s talents lay in writing. Still, she through to herself, if I dictate to her, what harm could it do?

“Okay,” she replied in a cheery voice, “I’ll say what you write and you write it, okay?”

“I can write!” replied the pegasus “I don’t need help, don’t worry; I’ll make you a letter to the princess!” Her voice dropped in pitch, losing some of its usual uncertainty, and gaining a surprising hardness in its place. “Don’t treat me like a child.”

The final statement came like a whiplash, all the more cutting for its truth. Twilight hid her surprise and nodded agreement. She would probably have to make another in secret and send that instead. Nevertheless, she left the pegasus carefully picking up the quill, and went to join the others.

Later, Twilight went over to Derpy to see how the letter was coming along. What she saw on the paper astonished her.

Dear Princess Celestia the letter read, in elegant, curved writing.

We’re approaching the end of the second day of our journey, and Twilight requested I inform you of something. We have identified the power behind the raid on PonyVille; it was the unicorn named Xerox who, I believe, you exiled many years ago for use of illegal magic.

The letter continued in this style, detailing with surprising accuracy the events up until the present, then ended with:

Your faithful student

Derpy Hooves

“That’s very… nice” Twilight said awkwardly as she finished reading. The simplicity of the statement seemed strange when compared to such an elegantly written letter. “Did you learn to write like that yourself?”

“Oh no Twilight!” replied Derpy “Princess Celestia taught me. That’s why I ended the letter just like you do, I’m her student too!”

“But why?” replied Twilight after a moment’s hesitation.  “I mean, it’s all very well, but…”

“I like writing” replied Derpy. By now the others had awoken and were listening in. The hardness in Derpy’s voice returned, and Twilight noted surprise on the faces of the others. “A lot of people say I’m funny in the head, and maybe that’s true, but it doesn’t mean I’m stupid. My thoughts just move a little slower than most people’s, that’s all. But when you’re writing you can think about things as long as you like. So I thought I’d learn to write well, and maybe people won’t think I’m stupid.”

Twilight took a moment to recover from the shock of what was practically a lecture by Derpy’s standards, so it was Applejack who answered “You shouldn’t feel you have to prove yourself to us, sugarcube, we don’t think you’re stupid” she said.

“I know” replied Derpy with simple honesty. The hardness had left her voice as quickly as it had come and now her words held a trace of their usual uncertainty, “but some ponies aren’t as nice as you guys. There was one pony in particular that was really harsh to me, especially when I was younger. She was the one I really wanted to prove myself to.”

“Who?” asked Rarity with an angry glare at Rainbow Dash. Twilight, however, already knew the answer, and her suspicions were swiftly confirmed.

“Myself.” Derpy replied simply, her voice barely more than a whisper. She hid her face, but she couldn’t hide the tears dripping to the floor.

Twilight felt her eyes also filling with tears, though hers were born of sympathy rather than sorrow, and she saw similar sentiments from the others. She had often seen the grey pegasus around PonyVille, but had never really stopped to consider how hard it must have been for her, growing up so different, so unwanted, so often alone. Instinctively she moved closer to hug the pegasus. Without words, the others moved in too, and soon the grey body was lost amongst the colours of the five surrounding her. Even Rainbow Dash, normally so indifferent, was as animated as the others.

“Well, for what it’s worth, we’re here for you Derpy” said Twilight, her voice breaking with emotion, and now Derpy raised her head. Her eyes were still filled with tears, but a great smile lit up her face and these tears were tears of joy. She laughed, words unable to express her thanks, and as they heard this the others joined in. Soon their small clearing was filled with merriment. The sound was punctuated by Pinkie’s cannons firing confetti into the air (and cries of ‘I knew I would need these!’).

It was a long time before they lay down to sleep that night.